Opinion

EDITORIAL: An important primary

Tuesday's primary election is being greeted with benign neglect across most of the state, whose residents will be presented with nominally competitive races, or no contests at all.

That's not true in the Nashoba Valley. Voters will help choose the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, the Democratic nominee in the 3rd Congressional District, and in Groton, Pepperell and Dunstable, the Democratic nominee for state Senate.

After numerous public debates and Editorial Board meetings, the Voice urges a vote for each of the following:

Beth Lindstrom for U.S. Senate

If the Republican State Committee were serious about ousting a sitting Democratic senator, what kind of candidate would it support? We'd say, the closest thing to Charlie Baker that you can get.

Instead, delegates at the GOP state convention endorsed state Rep. Geoff Diehl, a diehard Donald Trump supporter, who ran the president's Massachusetts election campaign. John Kingston, a well-heeled Winchester businessman and Trump foe, also qualified.

As did Beth Lindstrom of Groton, the only person with a chance of putting the polarizing Sen. Elizabeth Warren out to pasture. Lindstrom has demonstrated the ability and temperament to put incendiary partisan politics aside and work in the best interests of the state and nation.

Lindstrom, 57, and a mother of three, ran the state Lottery and the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation under Gov. Mitt Romney. She also managed GOP upstart Scott Brown's successful 2010 U.

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S. Senate win over Martha Coakley.

She's is a small businesswoman who volunteers on several boards in her hometown.

Lindstrom knows there'll be times when she'll agree with the president, and times when she won't, unlike her opponents.

Like Baker, Lindstrom supports a legal path for immigrants to become citizens, and opposes efforts to shield those in this country illegally.

Lindstrom has what it takes to mount a serious threat to Warren's Senate seat and presidential aspirations. We urge moderate voters -- specifically the more than half of the electorate registered as unenrolled - to take a Republican ballot and vote for Beth Lindstrom.

Lori Trahan for Congress

For nearly a year, the 10 Democrats vying to succeed U.S. Rep. Niki Tsongas have worked hard to raise important issues and win voter confidence. The 3rd Congressional District race has featured one of the nation's most talented, diverse, and inspiring fields.

One candidate has emerged in convincing fashion. Wife, mother, political operative, and successful entrepreneur, Lori Loureiro Trahan has the lifelong ties and experiences that bind her to the district. She's excelled on the stump, sticking to issues that affect people's livelihoods and personal convictions.

Trahan, 43, was born and raised in Lowell, where she graduated the public high school and earned a scholarship to Georgetown University. She lives in Westford with her husband and five children. Except for college, and a stint serving as then-U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan's chief of staff in Washington, Trahan has never left home.

She grew up in a working-class family. It's easy to spout bromides about fighting for the interests of those struggling to make ends meet, but Trahan has lived it. Her father was a union ironworker before being stricken with multiple sclerosis and her mother was a domestic worker; Trahan knew well the "anxiety" that comes with living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Unlike her main rivals, Trahan boasts experience in both the private and public sectors. Departing Meehan's office in 2005, she joined ChoiceStream, a marketing software company in Cambridge, then co-founded the Concire Leadership Institute with two other women.

In a strong field, Lori Trahan has come out the strongest in her sense of purpose, ideas, and commitment to the people of the 3rd Congressional District.

Rodney Elliott for state Senate

Democrat voters in the 1st Middlesex state Senate district have a chance to make a political breakthrough: elect a candidate who'll be a full-time senator on Beacon Hill.

That person is Rodney Elliott, the most experienced candidate in the five-member field who can lay claim to municipal and state legislative experience.

Elliott has been a respected Lowell city councilor for 21 years. Funding of public schools, rising health-care costs, public safety, and the opioid crisis are key issues he wants to address if elected.

He also promises to give the district's residents outside of Lowell a greater voice.

Rodney Elliott has promised to be a voice for all the people of the 1st Middlesex, and deserves your vote.

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